Well, having been tested I received a letter last weekend to say I'd passed! Apparently, only 50% of applicants are passed to donate platelets. Rang the Blood service yesterday & booked in for my first platelet donation! They told me my blood group is especially sought (A-ve).
Thanks for all the encouragement & feedback. It helped me make the decision, as it's a 120 mile round trip each time!
God Bless Your! Our blood and platelets donor are our life line…thanks so very much!!!
Panz 💕🙂☘️🙏🌈👍
Wifey21, I received platelets following apheresis for collection of CD34 stem cells. Thank you so much for becoming a platelet donor!
Until my CLL diagnosis I donated whole blood regularly. Now, due to my need for regular IVIG infusions I am dependent on the blood donations of others.
Thank you!❤️
Thank you Wifey. A hundred and twenty mile round trip each time is no small thing.
Paula
A huge thank you Wifey for being so kind and thinking of others! I needed 2 units of platelets during surgery recently. I have CLL, my platelets were down to 50 and the prostate is in an area where there are so many blood vessels - and still I bled profusely. You are one of a special group of people who give readily to those who so often forget to say a big 'thank you'. You really are a life-saver! Handley
Thank you Wifey, Transfused platelets only last about 4 days, so it's very, very frightening when you are platelet transfusion dependent. Mine bottomed out at 29 during my treatment and I was ill at the time, so had they dropped under 20, I would have qualified. I also have had an incredible return on my blood bank donation investment, now needing IgG every week.
Neil
I had a TURP for a benign enlargement which was getting me up (frequency) 4-6 times pn and was struggling to void properly. I'd had a Urolift 4 yrs earlier which helped a bit but only temporarily as the prostate continued to grow. I was taken off thinners (atrial fibrillation) 2 days before the op, given 2 units of platelets during op, and all was OK - BUT they put me back on thinners far too soon afterwards (3 days). I bled like a fish and blocked up and had to be rushed back during the night. More irrigated catheters and flushing (pretty dire experiences) leading after a week to return to surgery for cauterization and general clean out. Well, you did ask!!!
However, 2 months down the track, I can now report all's so much better 'down below' and I have an 18yr old urinary function now (if my memory serves me right!). There are one or two sacrifices to do with reproductive functions now committed to history, but I think I can live with that! Hope this helps? It would have been a doddle if I hadn't resumed anticoagulants too soon. Handley
Thank you so much for doing this Wifey21! I needed platelets every few days after chemo for my CLL knocked my blood counts down. That went on for about two months. Now I get IVIG infusions which are also a blood product. People like you are our life line to good health. Thank you so much!
Chris
That's wonderful of you to donate platelets. I had a platelet transfusion when I was in the hospital. In fact twice during that stay. (What surprised me was that platelets are yellow! Didn't know that.) I'm sure it helped me a lot to have received them, along with the 8 blood transfusions. I used to donate blood years ago.
Another big thank you Wifey21. Travelling so far to donate is certainly above and beyond. So many of us with CLL have needed blood products to survive and are extremely grateful to all donors.
Like Aussie Neil, I too have had an incredible return on blood donations given prior to my diagnosis having received platelets, blood transfusions and IgG. Thank you.
Maureen UK
Thank you! My husband received platelets which made a big difference for him as he waited for an organ transplant. Thanks to you and others who donate.
Update #3 Treatment Begins
Update on ibrutinib treatment 
CLL diagnosis with Obinutuzumab and Ventoclax offered as treatment
A brief update post Venetoclax+Rituximab - treatment number 4
